Linda Sánchez

At least two political veterans have now announced their candidacies for California’s new 41st Congressional District, setting up a Democrat-on-Democrat contest to represent parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Former Assemblymember Hector de la Torre, who was elected to the South Gate City Council and was that city’s mayor before serving in the state legislature from 2004 to 2010, launched a bid for the 41st Congressional District this week.

Also running is Rep. Linda Sánchez, who now represents the 38th District but saw the city she resides in, Whittier, redrawn into the 41st District under new congressional maps that California voters approved when they passed Proposition 50 during last month’s special election.

De La Torre, 58, lives in South Gate, in California’s 44th Congressional District. But he said he plans to move to neighboring Downey, a city in the new 41st District.

Although he isn’t required to move — House candidates don’t have to live in the district they’re running for — the former Assembly member said he and his children attended schools in Downey. He noted he represented the city while in the California Legislature and feels “very connected to Downey.”

He said he’s running because Congress is “broken.”

“It’s supposed to be representative of people, to make things better, to have the government support our communities. And frankly, that’s not happening writ large,” De La Torre said.

“My particular skillset as a local elected official, state elected official, as a state appointee to the California Air Resources Board and running the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, I think I have a very good handle on what is needed in our community and how to make it happen,” he added.

De La Torre is executive director of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, a body representing 27 cities and 11 unincorporated areas in southeast L.A. County that addresses regional issues, including transportation, air quality, housing, economic development and health and wellness.

He admitted that he thought he was done with electoral politics after he left the Assembly and had no desire to run for state Senate when opportunities arose over the years.

But after the newly proposed congressional maps were revealed in August as part of California’s redistricting effort, he saw an opportunity to try to fix what he sees as wrong in Congress.

He said his decision was in no way a referendum on Sánchez and that he views the race in the newly formed 41st District as an open seat.

If elected, De La Torre said his priorities would include championing good governance, health care access and improving the environment.

While in the Assembly, he said, he chaired the Rules Committee and started the Accountability and Administrative Review Committee to combat wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. He said he introduced a number of bills related to health care coverage and helped form Green California, a coalition of environmentalists.

Since leaving the Assembly in 2010, De La Torre has also been serving on the California Air Resources Board, working to protect against air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to his campaign, De La Torre is already endorsed by retired Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Grace Napolitano, both of whom represented communities that will be part of the new 41st District. De La Torre said he’s also endorsed by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (Alan Lowenthal’s son) and former Rep. Henry Waxman, who served in Congress from 1975 to 2015.

Sánchez, meanwhile, is endorsed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, who represents San Bernardino.

The new 41st District snakes around southern L.A. County and includes Downey, Whittier, Norwalk, Bellflower and Lakewood. It also includes Los Alamitos and La Habra in Orange County.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who advocated for the passage of Proposition 50, framed California’s mid-decade redistricting effort — which led to partisan maps meant to position Democrats to pick up five more House seats in next year’s midterm elections — as a counter to a similar gerrymandering effort by Texas Republicans.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that the maps the Texas Legislature adopted this summer, which critics alleged are unconstitutional because they were gerrymandered based on race, can be used for the 2026 elections while a lawsuit challenging them proceeds.

California’s own maps are being challenged in court by state Republicans and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the meantime, many candidates are deciding which House race to run in based on the maps approved through Proposition 50.